1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fine particle dispersion composition, to an optical component, to an optical film laminate, to a polarization splitting device, and to a method for manufacturing an optical component.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there has been proposed formation of an optical film having a predetermined optical characteristic, such as an anti-reflection film (AR film), by applying a composition, which is obtained by dispersing fine particles made of high refractive-index metal-oxide (for example, TiO2, ITO, CeO2, Y2O3, IZO(In2O3—ZnO), ZrO2, ZnO, Al2O3, SeO2, SnO 2, Nb2O5, or Ta2O5) or low refractive-index metal oxide (for instance, SiO2) into highly transparent organic resin, onto a transparent substrate and thereafter drying and hardening the composition (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
Especially, a method of manufacturing a highly transparent optical component, which has a high refractive index of 1.6 or more, at low cost by dispersing high refractive index fine particles made of, for instance, TiO2 is important, because high refractive index resins, whose refractive index is equal to or higher than 1.7, are generally hard to obtain (see, for example, Nonpatent Document 1).
At hardening in that case, an active energy ray curing technique using ultraviolet (UV) rays is often used, because this technique has an immediate effect of and is convenient for hardening of a thin layer, such as an AR film, having a thickness of ten-odd nm to hundred-odd nm.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Publication Laid-Open No. 2000-275404 (paragraph Nos. 0013 to 0035 and FIG. 2)
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Publication Laid-Open No. 2001-296401 (paragraph Nos. 0014 to 0065 and FIG. 1)
[Nonpatent Document 1]
F. Ide, KOKOMADEKITA TOMEI-JUSHI, Kogyo Chosakai, 2001, p. 19.